The talk “IBEROLAM: A spin off industry of the UGR to respond to urban agendas on climate change and demographic challenge” has starred today the final day of transfer of the Urban Agenda Bridges Program in the Diputación de Granada. The coordinator of the projects Revierte and LIFE Wood for the Future, during almost an hour of exposure has made a broad tour through the challenges in environmental, social, economic and heritage of the province. These challenges, along with the major problems of the current construction (lack of labor and high housing prices), lie in wait not only for our nearby territory but also for Andalusia and Spain.

Professor Antolino Gallego placed special emphasis on the opportunity that this sector opens up for the Sugar Factories of Granada, testimony to a glorious industrial past of economic development in the province of Granada, which must be preserved at all costs. With the University of Granada as a driving force and example through the purchase and start of the recovery of the San Isidro Sugar Factory, the sugar factories are a great opportunity to combine sustainable development, culture, heritage and tradition, modernity, training and innovation. The public administrations (Government, Junta, Diputación, local entities) have to bet for its recovery, thinking also about the challenges and needs of the society and the private sector.

Wood, as an abundant forest resource in the province, managed in an environmentally sustainable way, can bring economy to the province in all links of the chain: forest owners, agricultural management companies, sawmills and other industries of first transformation, second and third transformation industry, R+D+i and industrialized sustainable construction.

The PUENTES AGENDA URBANA Program is a project of the Provincial Council of Granada and the Social Council of the UGR, which enables young university students to carry out extracurricular internships within the framework of the Local Urban Agendas of different municipalities of the province in the development phase. The program fulfills a double objective:

1. Sustainable development:

– To support the implementation of specific projects of the Local Urban Agenda of the municipalities targeted by the program, through the development of projects/actions of its Action Plan.

– Collaborate in the fight against depopulation, generating employment opportunities that fix young talent and rejuvenate the territories.

2. Employment:

– To favor the socio-labor insertion of young university students, through specialized training, professional orientation and the realization of ÍCARO extracurricular internships.